Furious Fulham boss Marco Silva pointed the finger at the officials for the "embarrassing" way Liverpool earned a narrow 1-0 victory over his side.
Mohamed Salah scored the only goal from the spot six minutes before the break as the Reds secured a fifth successive Premier League triumph on Wednesday evening.
Referee Stuart Attwell awarded the penalty after adjudging Darwin Nunez had been clipped by Issa Diop after he took the ball off the foot of the Fulham defender, a decision backed up by VAR Tony Harrington.
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Silva, though, was unimpressed by the call and believes Nunez made the most of the altercation.
“Coming to the half-time, losing 1-0, the way they scored the goal, I have to say that is embarrassing,” said the former Everton manager, who recently served a two-match ban after being sent off against Manchester United in the FA Cup.
“Today in football to give a penalty like that, after the VAR didn’t take that penalty (away) it is difficult to understand. I will say nothing more because after it will be difficult for me and I don’t want to create more problems for me. But it’s almost impossible to understand that penalty.
“No, I didn’t speak with the referee. It will not change anything. Why am I going to speak to him? I know what I’m going to listen in the next few days, that it was a harsh decision, when Darwin touched the ball he start to dive himself but after he touched his left leg with Issa, they are going to say it is harsh but the referee gave and after the VAR cannot take (away).
“It is always the same conversation. I didn’t speak with the referee at the end or at half-time. I had some words with the fourth official.
“Issa told me that it is clear not penalty. Issa spoke with the referee during the second half and I know what the referee said to Issa as well. For us it is clear not penalty and the VAR should took that penalty or not allow that decision to go from the referee. The referee made a mistake and the VAR is there to take that decision and not allow the penalty to go on. That’s clear for me.”
While Liverpool dominated possession, Alisson Becker made two good saves in each half from Fulham forward Carlos Vinicius.
And Silva added: “Overall from the game we deserved much more, for me it’s clear. We had some problems off the ball, they created problems in certain areas and they were too easily into those areas.
“In the first 25 minutes we did well, when we took the ball from the press and attacked the other side we had some good moments. But the last decision and finish we needed to decide in a different way.
“It was a very good save from Alisson to stop Vinicius in the first half, but Liverpool had good chances in the first half and more possession than us.
"The second-half reaction from ourselves was good and there were some good moments from Liverpool as well. We had some good counters and two clear chances, a great save from Alisson in one-v-one with Vinicius and in the last minute the chance from Bobby (Decordova-Reid).”
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